Being a teenager is a difficult time as you attempt to become your person and balance relationships within the home, school, and social groups. It can be a time where you feel disconnected, dismissed, or even neglected from places that used to feel familiar. Alongside these developmental changes, your biology has wired your emotions to ramp up, resulting in difficulties communicating as others can’t seem to understand. It can be difficult finding a space where you feel safe or welcomed to address this process of finding your identity or expressing a newfound intensity with your feelings. Parallel to attempts at finding your personality, teenagers are faced with pressures coming from all directions, and not all of them are nice. It can be difficult learning to navigate these pressures and asserting who you are and your limitations or boundaries. We offer therapy for teens to help them (and their parents) work through several issues; below is the type of issues we work with and how we offer help to teens.
You commonly hear about how the teenage years are “formative years” which translates to a time period where things felt intensely can shape how you view the world and ultimately how you decide what your future may look like. Below I hope to address some of the complexities that teenagers experience and not just how they influence the present, but how left unattended may impact their future.
Coming Into Their Own, Forming An Identity
Teenagers have the difficult task of trying to fit in while also building confidence in who they are and who they want to be. This can feel like an attack from all sides as they experience pressure from family, friends, peers, societal, and themselves; however it is important to note that not every comment or critique is malicious. That being said, it can be hard for a teenager to feel comfortable exploring themselves if they believe their worth is tied to the expectations from others. Teenagers require confidence and reassurance during their attempts at carving an identity that fosters hopefulness, excitement, and motivation. Stuck in seeking approval and feeling compelled to adhere to all the expectations of others, we see teenagers form high levels of anxiety, losses in identity development, and depression.
Communication, Hard to Describe Emotions/Feelings
Communicating as a teenager is complicated. Like in our previous topic, they are first faced with checking in with comfort in expressing themselves which is then met with do I know how to express what I am thinking and feeling while also asking themselves if it will even be understood. Teenagers can benefit from exploring how to identify, understand, and express themselves to aid in strengthening communication within important relationships while also building self-confidence to assert themselves in any relationship. Left without the confidence to express themselves, teenagers can find themselves timid, anxious, and unheard.
Rejection and Isolation
When attempting to find your own identity meets heavy criticism and exclusion, teenagers can find themselves navigating social anxieties that center around fears of rejection. This can lead to numerous concerns including becoming more susceptible to peer pressure, feelings of hopelessness, and isolation. This is where we see teens develop difficulty understanding their self worth and manifesting low self-esteem. Left feeling worthless and excluded, it becomes difficult to engage with the external world let alone overcome difficult challenges.
Anxiety
The culmination of being unable to explore yourself, lacking the confidence and skills to effectively communicate, feeling unheard, and feeling inadequate can foster generalized anxiety where the internal and external world feels too difficult to traverse fostering avoidance. This general feeling has a tendency to keep us from participating and souring experiences we choose to partake in. Unfortunately, the situations that foster these symptoms are a vicious cycle that continues to push us further from connection, engagement, and peace.
Social Media
Teenagers have access to a platform that connects them with all of their peers, both locally and globally. While this increases access to information, it is also a large source of criticism and comparison. Teenagers struggling with their own identity or a desire to fit in can feel compelled to address, adhere, and mimic content being consumed on social media.
Bullying
While already susceptible to role confusion and a lack of confidence with their own identity and position socially, teenagers tread lightly attempting to not set off bullies. Bullies deliberately attack insecurities, isolation, and loneliness. Teenagers do not always have access to the confidence to circumvent bullies or feel secure within their relationships to express vulnerability. Being unequipped, teens can suffer a severe blow to feelings of hope and connection resulting in beginning to over identify with the criticism.
Moodiness and Depression
We have discussed the many ways teens experience difficulties which won’t be repeated here; however I will address how navigating each of these situations, and the ones not discussed, is exhausting. Being a teen feels like running a marathon that we don’t always feel like we have the breath to finish. We can feel hopeless, ill-prepared, and out of our league. These are tremendous feelings to hold onto and can be internalized or projected outwardly. Internalized, it can result in depression, isolation, and self-destruction while projected outwardly it can seem like volatile moods, irritability, and aggression. We have already heard about how teens may find it difficult to express themselves or feel like they belong, making these feelings critical in exploring, understanding, and educating.
Video Game Addiction
Video games have become a common interest and hobby which is easily abused. They present an opportunity to disconnect from current stresses and transport into a more rewarding environment. When done to escape difficulties, teens can become obsessed and shift from healthy balanced use, to addicted to the distraction. Video games themselves are not the culprit here, but instead understanding why teens are expressing the need to escape.
Exploring Sexual Identity and Gender Identity
Since the early 2000s, research has shown that the coming-out age has moved from the early 20’s to the early teens if not even younger. Questioning things like your sexual identity or gender identity can be confusing, and you might not always feel comfortable or even able to talk to your parents about what you are going through. Exploring your queer identity so you understand your queerness can help you find more success throughout your lifetime.
Therapy For Teens Outcomes
Teenagers grow through therapy by engaging with these concerns and developing secure attachments to the therapist and the space they provide. By having the opportunity to explore and lean into distress, teens can begin to lower defenses and foster a curiosity that allows them to build the tools, resources, and hope that lead to alleviating patterns and cycles of distress. Therapy is able to aid in this roadmap by decreasing feelings of shame, loneliness, and hopelessness through engaging with and altering narratives which foster stagnation. In validating the difficulties, we create a space where teens can begin to creatively express and engage with their personal narratives in order to increase confidence and to cultivate their resilience to anxieties, fears, and hopelessness. It is common for teenagers to feel overwhelmed and doubtful when beginning therapy due to chronic difficulties in expressing themselves or feeling dismissed. Therapists may seem like another authority figure who has already dropped the ball; however allow us to repair the belief that you are alone. Teens will learn how to accurately describe their distress and needs while also cultivating the confidence in their identity. Confidence that will aid in fending off criticism, fears of rejection, and bullying.
Ultimately, therapy is a tool that can aid teenagers in understanding their development, fears, and needs. Therapy helps teens unlock their full potential and to remove the roadblocks that hinder cultivating it. Teengers equipped with this understanding, and the tools that come from it, are confident in building meaningful and fulfilling relationships, successful in engaging with interests and hobbies, and comfortable with their identity and less susceptible to peer pressure and bullying. Teenagers are going through major developmental shifts and therapy is an opportunity to receive a guide through the murkiness in order to enter young adulthood successfully.
Common Objections To Therapy For Teens
“It’s embarrassing”
It can feel uncomfortable sharing your thoughts and feelings with someone else; however therapy is a confidential space where the information is not allowed to leave our office. We protect that privacy by restricting access to the information you share. Acknowledging that you are in therapy is a choice you have 100% control over. Think of therapy as a mental check-up, much like you would do with your primary care doctor. Therapy is not just for those who have mental illness, but is also a place to explore confusion, distress, or discomfort. Allow us to guide you through any difficulties you may be having trouble navigating.
“I have enough people telling me what to do”
The beautiful thing about therapy is that we would not dare trying to tell you have to live your life, instead we want to help you explore what roadblocks and hindrances you seem to be stuck on. We want to consult with you and help you feel successful, accomplished, and proud. If anything, we want to help you find even more collaboration and healthy communication in your life. Teens are trying to find their identity and independence, we want to help you find your voice as well as how to use it effectively and efficiently.
“Everyone keeps telling me it’s not that bad”
Mental distress is hard to show, and hard for others to understand, especially if we do not know how to describe the intensity of our feelings. Everyone’s pain is subjective to their own experiences which may make it difficult for others to participate in what you’re experiencing. Therapists specialize in navigating, understanding, and communicating emotional pain and discomfort. Allow us the opportunity to hear you and to help you express your concerns, needs, and pains.
Start Therapy For Teens Today
The best day to start therapy is today. Below is a list of our therapist that specializes in working with teens. You can learn more about them by clicking in their name. Along with scheduled a session down below.
Therapist List
Contact us today by calling or texting 702-518-1546, email, or booking a session by hitting the appointment request button. We can normally get you into a session within 24 or 48 hours.
We offer both online therapy (learn more about online therapy here) and in-person therapy at our Las Vegas office. Our office is located in West Las Vegas right off the 95 & Rainbow. Our address is 222 S. Rainbow Boulevard | Suites 113-114 |Las Vegas NV 89145